Hitting back at Congress President Sonia Gandhi for saying "blackmail is the political bread and butter" of the opposition party, BJP today alleged kickbacks and commissions have been the staple of the ruling party since the Bofors scam.

"A government whose integrity has been painted black in the coal deals cannot be blackmailed. The staple diet of Congress ever since Bofors has been kickbacks and commissions," Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley told reporters.

He was reacting to the comments made by Gandhi earlier today in the Congres Parliamentary Party meeting. Asking her party MPs to "fight aggressively" BJP's onslaught on the coal allocation issue, Gandhi had alleged that Parliament is being held to "ransom by blackmail, which has become the political bread and butter of BJP".